


Cover Story

by bluevelvetvideo



Series: Landslide [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Best Friends, Bughead Fest (Riverdale), F/M, Pre-Canon, Prompt Fic, Southside Betty, betty cooper is the best friend anyone could ask for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25638553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluevelvetvideo/pseuds/bluevelvetvideo
Summary: As a participant in the First BugheadFest, my prompt was: meeting in the fiction section of the library to share snacks and books for the Elementary School age bracket.
Relationships: Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: Landslide [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858666
Comments: 13
Kudos: 37
Collections: 8th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees, Bughead Fest Collection





	Cover Story

**Author's Note:**

> So - this was not intended to be a continuation of the Hank Cooper and Hot Dog Jones universe, buuuut it is. THAT BEING SAID, if you haven't read that - you really don't need to. All you really need to know is that its an AU where Betty (who was from somewhere else entirely) moves to the Southside with Polly after Hal kills Alice (and other people). If you wanna read it, I'm definitely not going to say no, because y'know, I wrote it and I kinda like it.
> 
> BUT ANYWAY: I want to give a huge shout out to Em for putting this all together. This was a lot of fun! I also want to scream my love and appreciation for Cat (@bettycooper) from the mountain tops. Not only did she do an amazing job beta'ing this for me, but she also made the most precious graphic I have ever seen. Cat, you are a rockstar and I can never thank you enough for your friendship and support. <3

Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones were inseparable. Their friendship was forged over their mutual love of Hot Dog, who Betty still insisted on calling Hank - _because no dog should be named after a sorry excuse for a food product._ They walked to school together, took Hot Dog _Hank_ for walks through Fox Forest, and did their homework together. They’ve even been known to fall asleep together on the couch after hours of reading. Polly had also taken to looking after him when she noticed his father, FP Jones, wouldn’t come home until the wee-hours of the morning...if at all.

One chilly afternoon on their walk home from school, Betty finally worked up the courage to ask Jughead a question that had been weighing on her mind.

“Jug? Can I ask you something? It’s kind of personal, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“It’s pretty safe to say you could ask me anything, and I’d tell you. You’re my best friend, Betts,” he said, looking to his left and nudging her on the shoulder, knocking her off balance.

“Why did you get held back?”

“Who said I was?” Jughead asked, stuffing his hands into his too-short jeans.

“Well, you’re already eleven, and even the oldest kid in our class is only ten. I just figured you did. Which I can’t understand because you’re one of the smartest people I know.”

Jughead sighed. “I missed a lot of classes in third grade. That was the year my mom left, and my dad went awol. The school psychologist told me” —he took a deep breath and changed his voice to mock the counselor— “‘you’ve suffered an emotional trauma and would benefit from repeating the grade to make up the time you lost.’”

“I’m really sorry your mom left,” Betty said, staring at her feet as they continued their path to Sunnyside Trailer Park. “I know what it’s like to not have your parents around. Polly is great and all, but I miss my mom and having a family that was _actually_ a family. Y’know, before we found out about my dad. ”

“Right.” Jughead held his head down in shame. “I’m sorry about them. I don’t think I’ve ever said it before.”

“That’s okay. Polly says that when it's your time, it's your time. And I guess I have to respect that.” Betty shrugged. “But anyway, did you want to start working on our reports?”

“They aren’t due for another three weeks, and truth be told, I have zero interest in writing about the history of my favorite invention or historical figure from the 20th Century. I wasn’t even _alive_ in the 20th Century!”

“You’re being dramatic. Did you look at the list?” He gave her a pointed look and she chuckled. “I’ve already decided which one I’m doing, and I starred options for you on the list, too.”

“Of course you did,” Jughead said as they turned the corner to their row at Sunnyside.

“And it doesn’t have to be a historical figure specifically. It can be a humanitarian, writer, artist… pretty much anyone.”

They stopped in front of each of their doors. He couldn’t hear anything from inside the trailer. There were no lights on, and the television wasn’t blaring like it would be if his father were home. Jughead had a feeling he’d be spending yet another dinnertime with the Coopers. 

“She isn’t home from work yet, but Polly made cookies last night. Do you want to come over and have a few?” Betty asked, seeing the forlorn look on his face.

They never really talked about his father too much. Betty overheard Polly and Jughead talk about him sometimes while she set him up on the couch to sleep for the night, but nothing she could make out in great detail. She could tell it upset him, so instead, she avoided the topic all together, offering him snacks and companionship.

“Is that even a question?” Jughead smirked, following Betty into the Cooper girls’ trailer.

He set his backpack on the hook next to Betty’s and pulled the milk from the fridge while she found two mismatched glasses and plates in the cabinet. They worked well together in the kitchen, and as Jughead poured their milk, Betty placed two cookies on one plate and four on another.

“It isn’t even my birthday,” Jughead said, his eyes shining with excitement at the extra cookies.

Betty always gave him extra snacks. She’d seen him eat before, and his appetite seemed like it was never satisfied. On the rare occasion that Polly took them to Pop’s, he’d always finish his burger, fries, milkshake, proceed to finish whatever Betty couldn’t, and then still wonder what was for dessert. It made her laugh, but she knew it was something she could depend on in her new chaotic life.

“So, I was thinking,” Betty started, pulling her hair from the kitchen table after scampering back to the door for her backpack. She pulled out the green folder marked _Language Arts_ and the assignment page from within it, showing it to Jughead. She’d marked the options she thought he’d like with blue hearts and hers with purple circles. 

“Theffuns?” Jughead asked around a mouthful of cookie, pointing at the blue hearts. “I mean, these ones?” Betty nodded. “History of the radio or my favorite author? Those are my options?”

“Well, do you care about Velcro or politics?”

“Eh, not really,” he shrugged, popping another piece of cookie into his mouth before drowning it in milk. 

“I didn’t think so,” she said nibbling at her first cookie.

“You never said why you wanna get this done so quickly. The way I see it, we have three weeks before it’s due, so we push it off, cram it in the night before, and still get glowing remarks,” he said, downing his milk and wiping the mustache it left behind away.

“Or,” Betty said, putting her half-eaten cookie down, “the way _I_ see it is we get it done, but we don’t tell Polly. That way, we get some _Northside_ library time away from the children’s research section.”

Jughead’s ears perked up at the sound of time for something other than schoolwork or worrying about his dad or where his next meal was coming from— _probably the Coopers_ , he thought before shaking it away and leaving it for another time to worry about.

“We can write the papers this week but just tell Polly we couldn’t find what we were looking for at our library and sneak into the fiction section over there. I hear Ms. Martin _finally_ updated the classics section,” she said, trying to tempt him in a sing-song voice.

“I haven’t been able to find a copy of _The Cask of Amontillado_ that didn’t have pages missing. Ms. Burble made it a point to tell me that reading Poe at such a young age could _pose_ a problem,” he cackled at himself. “Get it? Pose, Poe. See what I did?”

“Yes,” she sighed. “I see, and I’m pretending I didn’t,” Betty said, rolling her eyes and breaking off another part of her cookie to dunk into her tea cup filled with milk. “So, what do you say? We finish the work then sneak off and read something other than the required reading. It isn’t like we haven’t read almost every book the children’s section has. Oh wait… we have.”

“I’m starting to think we’re too smart for our own good,” Jughead laughed. “Count me in.”

“Oh, we are definitely too smart for our own good. I have a feeling it will get us in trouble when we get older.”

“I’ll get in trouble with you any day, Betty Cooper,” Jughead winked.

\--

Even though Betty and Jughead both knew they could write pages and pages on the evolution of investigative science and C.S. Lewis, respectively.they only had to write five paragraphs, 

They finished in three days.

However, they’d told Polly they were having trouble finding what they needed at the library on the Southside, which was notoriously underfunded, understocked, and understaffed. It was no secret that the Southside got the hand-me-downs and leftovers of their resources from the Northside; most things were outdated and if they weren’t yet, they were about to be. So, Polly would pick them up from school and drive them to the library on the Northside.

“Get your work done. I don’t want another phone call from the librarian telling me you’re reading something you shouldn’t be.”

“It was one time,” Jughead said, knowing fully that it was just the one time they’d gotten _caught_.

“Stay out of the true crime section, Jughead. It’s too much for your age and you know it,” Polly said, looking at them both pointedly while Betty gripped at her backpack straps. “I have work tonight, so I’ll be back in a few hours. If anything happens, call me.” 

“Aye, aye,” Jughead said, saluting Polly before turning around and heading toward the door of the library. 

Getting to go to the Northside was a treat. No one knew them there. No matter what they did though, they were still a pair of kids from the Southside that people kept an eye on, so discretion was paramount.

“Where to first, Juggie?” Betty asked after they walked through the sensor. “They certainly have more to choose from than our library.”

“I told you. I’m on a mission to find that Poe story,” Jughead said, trying his hardest to remember where he could find that without asking an adult who would tell him it was inappropriate for a kid his age.

Betty spotted a stand-alone computer desk—waiting for them to fill in the fields they were looking for, so it could point them in the right direction. Jughead typed away and found exactly what he was looking for.

“They have two copies! TWO!” he whisper-screamed. He clacked his fingers against the keys. “They even have the last Brontë Family--,” he said, pointing to the screen.

“They have _Agnes Grey_?! I’ve been looking forever for that. I was starting to think I’d never be able to read it!” She cut him off more excited than he’d seen her in ages. Her eyes raced over the screen, mentally noted where the book could be found, grabbed Jughead’s wrist, and made her way toward the children’s section.

“Where are we going? Our books are the other way.”

“Oh, I know, but Polly will check in with the librarian. You know how she is,” Betty shrugged. “And I have a plan,” she said, her eyes landing in the corner of the room.

The Northside library had a whole separate section for their children’s library with bean bags, couches, and oversized reading chairs. It was cozy, much cozier than their usual library. They placed their backpacks on a chair, and she started browsing the young adult section, her fingers lingering on book spines as she walked up and down the aisles. She stopped and grabbed two copies of _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire._

“We’ve read this, like, four times already,” Jughead whined.

“Take these and get comfy in the chair we left our backpacks on. Just trust me,” she smiled before flitting off out of the children’s area and into the main library.

Jughead did as he was told. He found it was better not to question Betty when she seemed so sure of herself—which was most of the time. He moved their backpacks to the side and settled into a chair big enough to fit two adults if they squeezed the right way. 

“At least it’s soft,” he said to himself as he cracked open his copy of the book and began reading from the middle. He found himself lost in the magic of his book when Betty came back. 

She put the backpacks on the top of the chair, leaning against the wall and settling herself in close to Jughead. There was plenty of room for them to be kind of spread out, but oftentimes, they took to sitting close. _You’re comfy_ , Betty would always tell him as the reason why. Betty slipped the books from under her shirt and placed Jughead’s Poe anthology inside the Harry Potter book. She followed suit with her own.

“This way, it looks like we’re reading something ‘age appropriate,’” she said, exaggerating her point with air quotes, “and we get to read whatever we want. I call that a win-win.”

“You just might be the smartest girl I know, Betts,” Jughead laughed. His stomach growled as they settled in comfortably. “Sorry. I didn’t have lunch today. My dad--”

Betty reached up for her backpack, pulling it down between them. Jughead looked down, and his eyes widened. Inside Betty’s backpack was an arsenal of snacks. From what he could see, there were three peanut butter sandwiches, four small bags of chips—three of which were his favorite tortilla chip—and two ziplock bags of homemade cookies.

“Jughead, I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I know you well enough to know you like a variety of snacks pretty much at all times.” She smiled at him before nudging his shoulder. “So, I came prepared.”

Jughead blushed, looking back and forth between Betty and her magical backpack of snacks. “I think you might just be an actual angel.”

“Nah,” Betty said, waving him off and settling into the chair. “This is just what best friends do.”

“Well then, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” he smiled, turning to start the book he’d been eagerly awaiting.

“Ditto,” she said, the heat flowing up her cheeks. 

They sat in companionable silence, the only sound the turning of pages as they focused with rapt attention on their novels. Without looking, Jughead reached into the backpack and pulled out a sandwich. He carefully ripped it in half, giving Betty the bigger half. She looked at him and smiled before trading it for the smaller half and scrunching her nose at him playfully.

After a few hours, Betty was more than halfway through her novel, and Jughead was on his fourth Poe short story. Betty adjusted herself in the chair-for-two and rested her head on Jughead’s shoulder, her eyes still trained on her book. Jughead leaned over and kissed the top of her head.

Betty lifted her head up and looked at him, head cocked to the side and eyebrows furrowed. “What was that for?”

“It’s something my mom used to do,” he shrugged. “Just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

Betty smiled and put her head back on his shoulder, turning the pages as she finished them. What felt like another few hours passed as they sat there, reading together in companionable silence when Betty heard her phone buzz from her backpack. She sat up and stretched, reaching for her phone with her free hand.

“Polly is here,” she said, her voice tinged with sadness. “We can come back tomorrow.”

“Promise?” Jughead said, loving the solitude and safety of being in the library. 

“Absolutely,” she smiled, getting off the chair and offering her hand to Jughead.

They left the decoy Harry Potter books behind, clutching their real books behind them as they passed the children’s librarian, who had paid them no mind their entire stay. They placed the books carefully onto a cart for reshelving and walked out the door without being caught.

They ran to the car to meet Polly and climbed into the backseat.

“How was research?” Polly asked.

“Much better here than at our library,” Jughead said, clicking his seatbelt into place.

“Would you mind dropping us off again tomorrow after school?” Betty asked, almost bouncing in her seat.

“Normal kids your age play video games or sports or something.”

“If you haven’t noticed by now,” Jughead said, “we’re not normal kids, and I’m okay with it.” He turned and smiled bright at Betty who was already beaming back at him.

“Weirdos,” Polly laughed as she pulled away. “Pop’s tonight?”

“Yes!” Betty and Jughead said in unison.

Polly pulled into the parking lot, got out of the car, and made her way to the door. 

“How are you even hungry? You ate almost all the snacks,” Betty asked incredulously.

“We already established that I’m a bottomless pit,” he said, throwing his arm over her shoulder as they walked toward the diner.

They sat down to dinner and in true Jughead fashion, he finished his burger, fries, and milkshake before patiently waiting for Betty to finish hers. Betty wasn’t too hungry to begin with after having a few of her own snacks at the library. She took three bites of her burger and a handful of fries before pushing it in her best friend’s direction to finish.

\--

The next day, they followed the same plan as the day before. Betty packed her backpack with snacks to hold Jughead over until they got home to see if FP would be home or not to feed his son. Betty had noticed that, more often than not, he would _not_ be home to the point where Polly joked around that she’d adopted a second child. The first time the joke was funny, but as it became a regular occurrence, the statement lost all hilarity at an alarming rate.

By the second week, Betty had finished _Agnes Grey_ and _Frankenstein_ and began reading _The Portrait of Dorian Gray_ —at Jughead’s suggestion—while Jughead worked his way through the massive Poe anthology. They had the foresight to change their cover books as if they continued in the Harry Potter series. They needed to do everything to make the image realistic if they were going to keep up with their charade.

Betty’s phone buzzed in the front pocket of her backpack early.

_Polly_ : Get out here, now.

“Uh oh,” Betty said, hastily packing up the half-eaten snacks and throwing the books on the table. “I think our plan has been foiled.”

“You’ve got to stop reading so many old books,” Jughead laughed, following Betty’s lead and cleaning up his space.

“Polly just text me to come outside now.”

They hurried outside to find Polly standing beside the old station wagon, arms crossed, and toe tapping against the pavement. Betty shook her head, the image of her mother flooding her senses. 

“Are you two kidding me?” Polly asked. “Get in the car. I’ll be right back.”

Betty and Jughead climbed into the wagon without a word and waited in silence as Polly walked away, talking to herself and gesticulating wildly. She came back to the car a few minutes later, her scowl only slightly creasing her face now.

“So, Mr. Weatherbee tells me you’ve been reading out of your age range...again,” Polly said, as she clicked her seatbelt, setting her purse on the empty front seat. “Apparently, Ms. Martin warned him about you two.”

The way she said _warn him_ was vaguely menacing, as if they were going to cause mischief of some kind. 

“Though, he did say you were very crafty, and it took them a full week to catch onto your antics. Nicely done, by the way,” Polly said, smiling as she turned her head to look at Betty and Jughead. She pulled the books from her bag and handed them to the kids in the backseat. “Next time you want books out of the main library, just tell me,” she sighed. “Betty, I know you’ve been reading at a higher level for years now. Hell, you’ve read books I didn’t touch until late high school or even my first semester of college. And Jughead, if you’re keeping up with little miss over here, I’m sure you’re in the same stratosphere.”

Betty and Jughead both sighed in relief that Polly wasn’t actually mad at them. With Polly’s permission (and only a little confrontation), what started as their escape from prying eyes had turned into a routine. Instead of sneaking off to the library, they’d stay in the comfort of the Jones family trailer with Polly just next door. No cover story to worry about.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know how you feel. All love is appreciated. You can always come tumble with me @smugheadjonesthethird.


End file.
